


Monster Under the Bed

by FiveStillAlive



Series: Trickster [11]
Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-05 04:59:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14036685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FiveStillAlive/pseuds/FiveStillAlive
Summary: Loki doesn't need closure.  He doesn't care about revenge.  He just wants to never be reminded of that bastard again.(Best read as a sequel to Shifting and Offspring.)





	1. Chapter 1

Thor groaned and pushed his hips back against his brother's. "Unh, Loki..."

Loki purred soothingly. "Good, brother, you're doing very good. You're so tight." He pushed Thor's hair forward, to fall messily over his face, and give him access to the back of Thor's neck.

At the touch of his lips, Thor lost his breath, and buried his face in his forearms. "Loki!" His fingers dug into the dirt under him, overwhelmed by Loki's warm lips along his spine, by Loki's long, thick cock inside of him. So good, so good, but... "Loki!"

Loki chuckled. "Oh, I know, you don't like the knife when you're taking me." He licked a broad, possessive stripe along Thor's neck, to the back of his ear, and pressed the knife harder against his ribs, and growled softly. "But I do."

Thor moaned. He didn't like the knife, not when they were doing this! It distracted him, made it harder to fully enjoy what Loki was doing to him. "You made yourself bigger, I can tell!"

"Aren't you lucky." Loki made a satisfied noise. "You're so tight, brother. I really should fuck you more often."

Thor pushed his hips up, demanding Loki touch his cock! Loki laughed softly.

Thor ground his teeth around a cry. They were in bushes, not thirty feet from a busy park. He couldn't be loud. Loki's knife slid along his side, and his hand teased his pubic hair, and oh FUCK! "I'm sorry!" he burst out, gasping. "I'm sorry I said maternity made you soft!" He groaned, because Thor, King of Asgard, did not whine. He needed to be touched!

Loki lunged forward over him, and pressed his knife against Thor's throat. Thor moaned relief at being so forgiven. Oh, a knife to his throat might look worse, but Loki would not slash his throat. Whereas Loki was absolutely capable of stabbing him during sex, if he felt unsafe or out of control. "Yes, more!" He clenched himself around his brother, and almost came at the pleased gasp he earned.

Better yet, Loki's skilled hand closed around his cock. "Mmm. You're so big, brother. I am still not quite as large as you."

And Loki let Thor fuck him so often? How? "You feel big!" he panted, writhing his hips between cock and hand. "Loki, Loki!" He loved this! Loki's lips were on the back of his neck, so tender and warm, and he knew in these moments that his twisted, strange sibling cherished him, loved him as Thor loved Loki, loved him in the same soft, warm, frightening way.

Perhaps Loki sensed Thor's thoughts, for he bit hard on Thor's spine. "I'm coming in you." he hissed, around his captured bite. It was a command, not a request. Thor arched his back, eagerly submitting.

Loki released his bite to hiss in Thor's ear. "Look at you, brother. You're a gorgeous slut. You should let all your warriors take you like this. You should let me watch." He twisted his hand on Thor's cock, and Thor cried out as orgasm took him, trying to muffle himself.

Loki laughed, and pressed the knife a little closer. "Stay put, brother, I'm almost done."

Thighs trembling, Thor stayed where he was, gasping at Loki's increasingly hard thrusts, until Loki bit his shoulder to muffle his own cry of delight, and came in him.

Loki pulled out, and gave Thor a little nudge, to sprawl across the dirt and leaves. Thor didn't care. Loki fell into his arms, grinning.

Thor stroked his hair, worshipful. It seemed impossible that somehow this strange creature had made its way to him, and chose to stay at his side. For a moment, just a moment, he tightened his hand in his brother's hair, thinking of all he would do to keep him. He relaxed his hold quickly, but Loki only sighed happily and nuzzled against him for the roughness.

And she'd taken her female form again. Thor frowned. She'd been a woman before they'd started this little interlude, too. "Did you just... fuck me with your massive cock... while you were a woman?"

"It's hard to fuck you without one." She smirked.

Thor pouted. "Fine. You're better at it as a woman than a man." He'd been tricked into this bush. Loki had been all cuddles and softness, and certainly implied she was in the mood to let Thor be very sweet with her. Then suddenly Thor had been knees on the ground and ass in the air.

Loki was laughing at him, and reached to tenderly comb leaves out of his hair. "I never used to tell you when I was a woman. For all you know, I've never fucked you as a man."

Thor scowled at that. He was still getting used to some of this. It had all reached something of a breaking point, not so long ago.

Like many of their people, Loki changed often between being a man and a woman. Unlike any other, she had the ability to suit form to thought. Loki taking a female form had angered Odin, and he had spent years when they were young trying to stop her. He had eventually brought in another sorcerer, who had tortured Loki until she surrendered, and hid her female side away.

With Odin dead several years, Loki had hesitantly begun to reveal herself, first taking her female form more often, but denying that it was anything but a physical shift, then finally, after unexpectedly meeting the sorcerer who had tortured her, admitting that she changed how she thought of herself as well.

Thor kept forgetting that for Loki, being a woman wasn't new, only the freedom to admit to it was. His brother had often been a woman around him without him having any idea, hiding in her male form.

They straightened their clothes, and tried not to look too obvious as they reemerged into the park.

Thor spotted Fenrir, now almost six feet tall and showing no signs of slowing his growth, running in circles with a mob of children, one toddler clinging to his back. He grinned. "All pups playing together, I see."

"He likes the children." There had been a baby boom after resettlement, which had by now become a child boom. They were everywhere. "Why is Tyrer smiling at Fenrir?"

"What?"

"His child is playing with him. He's never approved of Fenrir."

Oh damn. "He just needed to get used to him!"

By the look Loki was giving him, Thor was going to have to be on guard for a while. "When was Tyrer getting used to my offspring?"

Thor swung his arms uncomfortably. He missed his hammer. "Fenrir, ah... joined our last hunt."

Loki was silent a moment. Then burst out "He's eight months old!"

"I didn't bring him!" Thor protested. "He just joined us! Miles out, too; he gets far!"

"Of course he gets far, that's why he likes the woods!"

"Loki...." He knew why Loki was upset. Fenrir was growing all too fast for her, and fast approaching independence. The confines of the palace ill-suited him, and he had even begun sleeping in the woods a month before. "He hunts on his own, after all. It was good for him to bond with the warriors."

"He hunts prey! You were hunting... bears or giant lizards or something horrible, weren't you!"

"Boar. He had fun, brother!" He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Loki sighed, and seemed to relent. "You look after him?"

"Of course. Brother, he is yours. I will always protect him, as my own."

Loki pulled him into a kiss. She opened her mouth in trusting surrender, and made Thor forget that they had coupled only minutes ago. Her body was so pleasant against his, seeming more like a god of spring warmth than of trickery.

A snip by this ear, a sharp tug and release on his hair.

Thor pulled away, startled, and Loki smirked. She was holding up his lovelock, with her hair braided into it, and backing away. He opened his mouth to protest, and Loki turned with a broader smile, and walked down the hill to where the wolf and the children were playing.

Loki often seemed more like an elf or faerie than a frost giant. He wondered if there was anything to her conjecture that she had changed hands even before Odin found her.

She called Fenrir over, smiled at the child on his back, and helped the child down. Then she put the braid around the wiggling pup's neck like a collar, and there was a flare of magic.

She walked back up the hill to Thor, Fenrir charging ahead to jump on him. Thor didn't have to squat to greet him anymore, and scratched his head happily. He examined the braid. Loki had sealed it into a seamless ring.

"What does it do?"

Loki raised her chin defiantly. "Would you deny him any protection?"

"No." He was Loki's offspring. He was family.

"Then it doesn't matter."

He supposed not. He claimed Loki's hand, as they continued their walk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos very much appreciated!
> 
> I'm on Tumblr: <https://www.tumblr.com/blog/runnerfivestillalive>


	2. Chapter 2

Woods.

Night.

He walked through them, knowing he'd find what he sought.

A low noise. He turned.

A wolf. A strange wolf. Too big, but still proportioned like a youth.

That's what he was looking for.

It watched him, wary. It knew he was a stranger. But had it ever met a threat before? Or had it been coddled and protected, and treated as if it belonged in this universe?

He raised a hand. The creature ran.

Too late.

\-----------------

Loki woke with a jerk, and scrambled out of bed. Thor was starting awake beside him, having felt the jolt of impact through Loki's hair spell. But he wouldn't have seen. He wouldn't know.

"Loki? What's happening? Was that Fenrir?" He was hurrying out of bed too.

No, he mustn't come!

He tried to tell him. The room spun. Loki was still half in the woods, seeing the vision sent to call him. Fenrir was being dragged through dirt and leaves by a monster.

Monster. Loki fought to orient himself. He was in Thor's room. He was awake, but his nightmare was here, returned again. Couldn't he leave? Couldn't he just leave!?

"Danhum." He could barely breath for terror. Why couldn't the fucking bastard just leave? Just GO AWAY. He saw it again and again, Danhum reaching with his magic, and throwing Fenrir against stone. Felt his repulsion, his hatred, for Loki's unnatural offspring. His repulsion and hatred for Loki, unleashed on his offspring.

Danhum. The torturer Odin had brought to train Loki out of his unnatural ways. He had escaped prison, reportedly obsessed with Loki. But that had been some time ago. They'd hoped he'd simply run away.

Why couldn't he have simply run away?

Lightning was crackling over Thor's skin. "Danhum?"

He couldn't come. Danhum had sent his vision to call Loki out. If Thor arrived, flashy and loud and uninvited, he would kill Fenrir at once.

"Brother." Loki turned to him, as if needing comfort. Thor embraced him.

"Where are they? We'll get him back, I pr-"

Thor grunted as Loki's knife hit hard between his ribs, then magic pinned him against the wall. Loki ran. Magic bindings wouldn't hold Thor long, nor would a stabbing much slow him.

The woods were big, but Loki knew where Fenrir slept. They must be near there. Danhum's familiar power, sickening and horrifying, drew him.

Fenrir was draped in heavy chains, and Danhum stood over him with a spear. Loki did not give him a chance for whatever dramatics he had planned. He had nothing to prove. He wanted Danhum to just stop stop STOP. He blasted Danhum away from Fenrir. Stop.

Danhum picked himself up, laughing madly, and lashed out at Loki. Loki partially dodged, taking a hit to the leg. He let an illusion fall, as he vanished.

His illusion cursed and struggled to rise, until Danhum put his spear to its throat. Loki ran to free Fenrir, struggling with the chains. His illusion snarled up at Danhum, keeping his attention. "Why would you come back? Why not flee, and be done?"

He didn't care why.

"I lost everything to your unnatural, filthy ways!" He pressed the spear down, drawing a well of blood. "My position, my respect, my life! There's no getting them back, but I will at least finish your lesson!"

"Kill me, then!" Loki's illusion sneered. Let him think he'd murdered Loki, and flee with that satisfaction.

"You will not get off so easy! Abomination!"

Thunder boomed.

"Ah, your seduced king comes. Time to go, filth!" Magical bindings ensnared the illusion, and it was hoisted into the air. His ship revealed itself, waiting above the trees, with its ramp extended.

His illusion cried out, struggling.

Danhum laughed. "Oh, I mustn't forget. Before your king arrives...." He turned, and thrust his spear at Fenrir. Loki had been ready, and caught it. He jerked it upward, not quite able to break Danhum's hold on it, or free a hand to strike.

Thor landed in a cascade of lightning, and Danhum was down before Loki's eyes cleared.

He felt no triumph as he lunged forward with the spear, to end this bastard. Just relief that this was over.

Thor's arm caught him, in a firm grip. "Brother, it's done. See to Fenrir."

Loki stared up at Thor in disbelief. "You prefer to kill him yourself?" Loki didn't care one way or another. All his blame had gone to Odin. He only wanted never to be reminded of this man again. If Thor would get some satisfaction from killing him, Loki was pleased to let him.

"I very much do. But he's captured, Loki. That is enough."

Loki stared at him, in disbelieving horror.

\----------------

It was a very cold trip back. Loki refused to even look at Thor. Loki carried Fenrir, and Thor Danhum.

Fenrir could not walk without limping. He was not badly injured, but he had bruises, as if Danhum had kicked him, and he hurt. He whimpered and pressed his big head against Loki, like the puppy he still was.

And Thor wanted to keep Danhum alive.

Valkyrie met them with horses.

She looked surprised. "He's alive?"

Loki glowered forward.

Thor sighed. "We don't just execute people."

Valkyrie rolled her eyes. "Right." She pulled him off Thor's horse, where Thor had just draped him. "Oh no, he's escaping!"

"No." Thor jerked him back up, and over the horse. "We don't just kill prisoners." He got on the horse behind Danhum's prone body.

"Sure thing, highness. Hey, you go on ahead, get his cell ready. I'll stay back with Loki. We'll catch up."

"See, Valkyrie sees sense." Loki got on his horse, with Fenrir carefully arranged, and the three set off.

"No. You think I want him alive? We don't just execute people. We've all earned execution. I started a war. Valkyrie abandoned her vows. Loki... I've lost count; you'd just get executed on general principle."

"It isn't the same!" Loki hissed.

"Didn't he torture... what, hundreds of people on Vanaheim? Lots of kids." Valkyrie gave the unconscious form a disgusted look.

"He hasn't killed anyone."

"He attacked Fenrir!"

"He hurt your dog, Loki! That's not a death sentence!"

Loki's face went blank, then snapped forward, away from Thor. In silence, he sped his horse, separating from them.

A few moments passed quietly.

"You're kind of an idiot, highness."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos very much appreciated!
> 
> I'm on Tumblr: <https://www.tumblr.com/blog/runnerfivestillalive>


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Angst and alcohol.
> 
> Probably my most shamelessly angsty chapter ever.

By some miracle, Loki didn't leave the planet.

Thor wasn't sure what power to thank for that. Perhaps it was the only gesture of reconciliation Loki was able to give - staying, where Thor could try to reach him. Perhaps he even knew Thor was right about Danhum, and was only sulking, though Thor doubted that.

Perhaps he was simply trapped. He wouldn't want to leave Fenrir, especially with Danhum in Asgard's prison. Taking Fenrir with him would be impractical. He knew Loki considered the Grandmaster's world a haven, and would probably be welcomed there with Fenrir. Of course, the Grandmaster would then be all too pleased to put Fenrir to use. There would be no deep forest for the growing wolf, no power of Asgard protecting him. Only the Grandmaster's whimsical favor. Nor, at the rate Fenrir was growing, could Loki be certain of being able to get him back on a ship to return to Asgard later.

In any case, Loki stayed. He did not speak to Thor, except biting insults if Thor pushed him in front of others. Thor had tried apologizing for what he'd said about Fenrir, at least. He knew now how Loki's reproduction had been forbidden and punished, and hated remembering that he himself had many times stopped Loki from creating his strange offspring, on Odin's behalf. Fenrir had seemed to accept his apology. But Loki had casually knocked a pitcher of mead onto Thor and simply walked away, refusing to hear him. It seemed Thor wasn't even worth a more thought out revenge.

"If you want, I'll bring him to you." Sif offered. "Bound and gagged. He'll have to listen to you, then."

"Tempting." Thor pushed his hair out of his face, and put his mug down.

It was late, and most everyone had gone to bed. Faden and Sif had been trying to cheer Thor up all night.

Faden refilled his own mug. "I'm loath to take the trickster's side, as you know. But I would not quickly forget, if I had a strange child and they were insulted so."

"I know." Thor buried his face in his hands with a groan. "I know! And I didn't just insult him, I implied that Fenrir did not have my full protection! I know! He won't talk to me!"

"Bound." Sif offered again. "Gagged."

Faden grunted. "He hasn't left Fenrir's side all week. I wouldn't want to fight them both."

He hadn't left his male form all week, either. Thor was the one on the side of law, mercy, and not murdering a prisoner, how was he the one feeling guilty? "I don't know how to satisfy him. If Danhum had been killed in battle that's all very well, but I can't just execute him to please Loki. He's not a murderer."

Sif scowled. "No, but I was right there with you when you were told of Queen Cy's investigation. He's tortured and raped hundreds of his students. Most young. Many children. He deserves to die. Queen Cy was going to have him executed."

"I wish they'd done it sooner, then." Thor was so tired. "Asgard has almost never resorted to execution. He's imprisoned. Loki should be satisfied with that!"

"He will be, then." Faden said, waving a dismissive hand. "Let him sulk, he'll get over it eventually."

They talked in circles a while longer, but nothing came of it.

\-------------

Thor eventually made his way to bed. Except Fenrir was at his door. Fenrir growled a bit.

"You're mad at me too?" Thor reached out to pet the pup, and Fenrir wagged his tail uncertainly. Then he grabbed Thor's wrist in his big jaw, and tugged him to Loki's room.

"He won't talk to me."

Fenrir growled.

"Very well, I'll try again."

He went in. Fenrir settled just inside the door. Blocking it. Clever thing.

Loki was curled up in bed. There was a mostly empty bottle of alcohol on his side table, and another on the floor.

"Loki...." Oh no. He'd never known Loki to drink like this. He went to the bathing room and returned with a big glass of water, before he crawled onto the bed and pulled his brother upright. "Loki?"

Loki woke, messy and disoriented. "Wha-" He tried to flail away from Thor's hold.

"It's okay, it's me! You drank a great deal, brother, do you need to throw up?"

"No." Loki buried his face in Thor's chest, and gave a drunk little sob. "Make him stop!"

"Make.... Loki, Danhum is in a shielded prison, his magic cannot reach you. Were you having a nightmare?"

"No, I can feel him all the time!" Loki clumsily clung to Thor. "I can feel him! I don't care if he's alive or dead, free or imprisoned, in power or ruined, I just want to not have to think of him! And now I can feel him all the time!"

Oh.... Heart breaking, Thor rocked Loki, comforting him like a child. "Brother, you can't feel him through the shielding. Forget him. Let him rot, far from your mind."

"I can feel him!" Loki cried, voice rising. Then he broke into messy, drunk sobs.

If he sent Danhum away, there was too much chance of him again escaping and returning. He had to remain here. Hurting inside, he cradled Loki, and kissed his hair.

Loki cried out and shoved away from him so hard he fell off the bed, in a drunken tumble. "Don't! That disgusting!" He struggled to even sit. "You- I'm disgusting! Don't you understand? I've wanted to have your children! I've thought about it!"

Thor cautiously got down on the floor with Loki. "I hope so; I've asked you enough." He tried to smile reassuringly. "It isn't inbreeding, brother. We would have healthy children." His smile became genuine at the thought. "We would have wonderful children!"

"We would have monsters! You see what I make! You don't even know what I am! The best you can hope for is that I am a frost giant! A frost giant so malformed and wrong I was left to die!"

"Loki, no...."

Loki buried his face in his knees, breath hitching.

Thor crept forward, and wrapped him into another hug. Loki fought a bit, yelling that he was unclean, and an abomination, but he was much too drunk to be effective, and Thor held him close, and let him cry.

"I can feel him!" Loki sobbed. "I can't forget him! Thor, what he did to me, it was allowed, it was all allowed, no one... everyone...."

"Shh, it's over. He'll never touch you again." He knew Danhum had tortured him in horrible, intimate ways. He knew also that Loki was far less upset by the brutal acts than the authority backing them.

"Here. Water. Drink." He pressed the glass into Loki's trembling hands, and guided him, making sure he drank the whole thing. "Up we go, into the tub. You're a mess, brother."

Loki clung on, dizzily, and let himself be carried. He hiccuped another sob. "You can't mean to keep him here. I feel him all the time."

Thor propped his unsteady brother up, leaning against the side of the tub, and turned the water on. "Would you trust any other prison to hold him?" He stripped Loki's bedclothes away, which lost him his balance.

"Feed him to desert lizards." Loki mumbled from the floor. "I can feel him."

"You can't, Loki." The water was warm enough. He manhandled Loki into the filling tub, with hardly any fight at all. Loki seemed startled to find himself in inches of warm water, and sputtered indignantly when Thor poured a cup of it over his head. "As drunk as you are, I don't trust you to put your head under and not try to breathe, but I'm not sending you back to bed with alcohol plastering your hair."

Loki shakily pushed his hair out of his face and blinked at him, just as Thor dumped another cup on him. He looked like a baffled child.

"I... I can feel him. I know more about magic than you. I'm very powerful."

"Yes you are. Turn around so I can comb your hair out."

Loki did, too drunk to come up with any witty refusal.

"He's powerful, too. He can't reach out of the prison, but I can feel him."

"Very well, you can feel him." Thor allowed. "What can I do? I might have killed him in the woods, and called it battle, but I can not simply murder a prisoner for you. Especially not one who is not himself a murderer."

"How many child tortures equal a murder?" Loki got all the syllables out, almost correctly. "I was one of his older victims. He... kids." He was drifting to one side. "Disobedient adolescents." he said, carefully. "Not cute kids. Do they not count?"

He jerked Loki back upright, exasperated. "They count. He is in prison for life."

"Life? Let him go. Bribe him to stay away. I can't keep feeling him."

"I will have his shielding strengthened." Thor said. He picked up a washcloth and soap, and pulled the drain to let some of the water out.

Loki squirmed against his invasive touches, but only ended up awkwardly tangled on his side, with Thor glad he'd opened the drain.

"He's not my dog." Loki mumbled.

Thor grimaced. "I know. I'm sorry. I didn't mean...."

"Liar." Loki tried to get up, but seemed to find an unmanageable number of limbs. "Hypo... crite. Keep asking for me to give you a child. This form isn't natural either. Breed you a pretty blond lighting monster."

"Brother, no. I'm s-"

"It would be magnificent." Loki's eye lit a bit, his tone taking on a hint of the madness that took him sometimes. Inspiration, he claimed. "Would you breed me now, Thor? What do you want of me? Pretty and blond and strong, with two legs and ten fingers, and your eyes?" He was too drunk to sit up, but not too drunk to shift, it seemed, and then a woman was vaguely struggling to untangle herself. She finally pulled herself up, and leaned close to Thor. "I'd give you a child, Thor. Right now." She held his eyes intently. "Whisper all your wants in my ear, I'll give you the perfect little Asgardian child, just as you like it."

Thor shook his head.

"You should take my offer, brother. I may never offer again." Her voice went abruptly thick with tears, and she looked away from Thor. "Does it count if it's yours? Can I share?"

Thor wasn't at all certain she was making sense, but was certain she was upset. He held her close, through another crying jag. "I just want a child!" she moaned. "Please, Thor! Please don't take him!"

"I won't." Thor murmured, stroking her hair soothingly. "I won't take Fenrir. No one will take him."

When Loki released his grip on Thor he was a man again. Thor settled him carefully back in the tub. "Let me finish, brother. I'll take care of you."

Loki relaxed into Thor's hands. "I got off easy." He rambled, changing subjects with drunken wobbliness. "Royalty. Didn't technically rape me. Not with his cock."

"Loki, don't...."

"And I gave up before he actually cut anything off. And he never bothered with vaginal perner... pene... inser... Fuck. You know. Only external damage. And my ass."

"Loki, stop." He pushed Loki around to wash the rest of him. "It is not good to dwell on such things."

"Can't help it. Feel him. Can't sleep. Dreams."

He rinsed Loki completely, and scooped him out of the tub. He wrapped his brother in a towel, and ended up with a tangled lump of towel and trickster on the floor. He got him dried, and put him in a chair while he changed the sheets. Loki made it a few steps, then ended up on the floor again.

Thor grunted. "I've never seen you so drunk."

"I can feel him. I had Sleipnir, and Odin brought him. I have Fenrir, and here he is again. And you keep him here." He looked lost on the floor, propping himself up on two arms, and confused by his position. "You've made your point, Thor. I promise I will not make any more. Just send him away."

Thor sighed. His skilled brother managed to be tragic and impossibly frustrating at once. "You know I am not keeping him here to punish you. Have yourself a pack of wolves. Fill the woods. Danhum is in prison." He pushed Loki into bed, undressed, and crawled in with him. Loki cuddled into his chest easily enough.

"He has me, every time I close my eyes. I'm so tired."

"You are safe. Sleep. I will protect you."

Loki pressed closer, and started crying again, quietly. "Closer." he pleaded.

Thor pulled him tighter against him. Loki's eyes kept sliding shut in exhaustion, then snapping open again, and he pressed convulsively against Thor each time.

"Closer!" he begged, worked up to full tears.

"Brother...." He wrapped a leg around Loki, and leaned into him, partially on top if him, so they were as pressed together as possible. He massaged Loki's back and neck, and started singing a lullaby, just so Loki could hear his voice. Fenrir hopped onto the bed, and pressed against Loki's other side.

"See, brother? All safe. Our whole family."

Eventually, uneasily, Loki slept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos very much appreciated!
> 
> I'm on Tumblr: <https://www.tumblr.com/blog/runnerfivestillalive>


	4. Chapter 4

He opened the door, and Loki was gone.

\-------------

Loki didn't get so drunk again, but still couldn't sleep. He refused to leave the planet, with Fenrir there.

He wasn't certain if Thor knew how thoroughly he'd won their long battle. Loki could no longer live one foot off the planet. Oh, he would resume his travels - he had matters to attend to - but Asgard was irredeemably, irrefutably, inescapably his home now.

Before Fenrir, he thought of Asgard as home only casually. It was a safe haven, yes, but so was the Grandmaster's new world. He had many times settled temporarily on another world, and only returned when Thor pulled him back. He kept many other homes, on many worlds, where he could retreat if necessary. And he had run many, many schemes for his own benefit over Asgard's. He had a certain territorial protectiveness for the place, but there were limits to that. If Thor were not so bound to it, he would happily never return.

Now, a chunk of his heart ran loose in Asgard's forests. It was terrifying.

Oh, he'd stored part of his heart in Thor long since, but he could think of no safer place for it to be, including his own chest. Thor was essentially indestructible, in both body and spirit.

But Fenrir....

He would grow to be large and fierce, Loki knew. But for now, he was young and so terribly new and... and Loki feared for him, in a constant, painful way, that he had simply learned to accept as part of him now.

He could watch Thor get tossed around in battle with amusement. He ached to think of Fenrir stepping on a thorn.

So no, Loki could not leave Asgard.

Danhum filled his every breath. The feel of his magic hung in the air. Loki found himself reverting to the almost-child he'd been when Odin had brought that monster here. He wore his armor everywhere, and played cruel tricks for petty cause.

He couldn't let Thor touch him, could barely be around him. Thor had not reverted with him, and would dig and question and try to understand. He hadn't let other Asgardians touch him for years, or decades, but now he worked his way through the men among the warriors, encouraging them to roughness.

Night after night, Thor's brutes drunkenly pushed him against a wall, down some dark hallway, and shoved into him, grunting and big. They were too drunk after feasting too resist Loki's mental influence, or even realize there was anything to resist. Loki had enough self-restraint not to use magic until they clearly intended to fuck him, but then he ensured they didn't try to get gentle, or take him to their bed, or question his change of behavior.

Then, then, with their cocks hard in him, their muscles and sweat crushing him into a wall, he could for a moment stop feeling Danhum in his prison.

His plots took an old turn. For years now, his schemes, on world at least, had been mostly harmless amusements, or for Asgard's benefit. He considered it hilarious that, under attack, the city's statues would come to life and defend the people, and no one knew but he. Thor had once spent a baffled day not understanding why people were acting so strangely, before realizing Loki had put an illusion of a rolling purple eye on his eyepatch. Now Loki wanted to hurt. Wanted people to fear him, wanted to punish anyone who aimed laughter his way.

He tried to control himself. He did not want enemies. He had Fenrir to think of.

He didn't know how he could keep living on this world.

\-----------------

He opened the door, and Loki was gone.

\-----------------

Loki was asleep when it happened. Well, he'd managed to put himself into something like sleep, with alcohol.

It was his own fault, for being so vulnerable.

How many times had he imagined Danhum's escape? He'd been certain it would happen. He'd thought it would be something of a relief. Danhum would escape and come after him. There would be a fight. It would be over. He would not have to keep feeling the man. He had imagined over and over again how he would kill the man quickly, before anything else could interrupt.

He... had not been thinking clearly, lately. Not since Danhum's return. He could barely sleep. The alcohol certainly didn't help. His thoughts did not account for Danhum preparing for his attack, or his own constantly disoriented state.

He hadn't planned on being collared.

He'd woken, confused and flailing and still drunk. His room seemed unfamiliar every time, as his mind struggled to grasp why he wasn't in Thor's bed. Panicked fighting took his body before his conscious mind even accepted the horror of Danhum on top of him.

Collared.

A moment to be grateful Fenrir was out hunting, in with his sickening, unthinking, childish terror.

Darkness.

\---------------

It was late when a guard reached Thor, panting, reporting Danhum's escape. He had cracked a side of his prison right open. Many had retired for the night. Thor roared orders to those still at the feast, ordering some to Danhum's ship, others to search, others to wake still more people to join the hunt.

Then he strode for Loki's room. The guard followed, nervously trying to report that they didn't yet know how he had been able to crack his prison, but they would certainly find out. Thor only half listened, almost running to Loki's room.

He opened the door.

Bedding spilled to the floor, alongside yet another alcohol bottle. A side table was knocked over so hard the wood had smashed.

And Loki was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos very much appreciated!
> 
> I'm on Tumblr: <https://www.tumblr.com/blog/runnerfivestillalive>


	5. Chapter 5

Loki laughed, voice rough and strained. "You're pathetic! Is this why you choose such young victims? I've done worse to myself masturbating!"

Every time Loki had imagined Danhum's escape, he had focused on how he would kill the man quickly. When his mind had, treacherously, imagined being at his mercy, he had rather assumed he would descend quickly into madness. Look at what just being on the same planet had done to him, after all.

But Danhum had begun "torturing" him, and it was... cathartic.

This creature had been so terrifying when he was young, and now he was simply boring. Oh, it was unpleasant, and his body ached, but it turned out Danhum was remarkably unimaginative!

Part of it was that Loki had been tortured by masters of the art, Thanos' creatures. Loki tended to cut memories of Thanos out of his mind completely. He had always preferred to think of himself as someone who had never been raped, and under a muffling rug in his own mind added an asterisk for Danhum shoving tools into him. Even in that quiet corner, what Thanos' lackeys had done simply wasn't considered. Loki dismissed those memories as if they were a fever dream.

But really, compared to that, Danhum's attempts at torture barely registered. What had been so frightening and degrading in his youth was now merely distasteful. And Loki had enjoyed a lot of distasteful things in the past thousand years.

Another part of it was that this time Danhum simply didn't... have permission. He wasn't allowed. Thor would be on Loki's side, and would be coming to stop this.

Much of what had been so horrifying when Loki was young had been the authority backing Danhum. He had been set on Loki by Odin himself, leaving Loki no one to turn to. Loki had been convinced he brought the torture on himself, and deserved it for his misbehavior, or at least that anyone he appealed to would see it that way. No one would be willing to help him, because Danhum had right on his side.

Not anymore. Danhum had stolen him. Thor was king now, and Thor would be coming to stop this. For the first time, this wasn't allowed.

Danhum punched him in the stomach.

Loki laughed at him, careless of the blood in his mouth. "Really, Danhum, I'm glad we have this time together! It's very therapeutic. I thought you were so terrifying, and you're nothing! An uncreative pedophile!" He'd even gone after Fenrir first. Pathetic.

"We've barely started, whore!" Danhum snapped.

"Really? You've been repeating yourself for hours." He'd shoved something large up Loki's ass, declaring he wouldn't lower himself to fucking a frost giant. Loki had taunted him for that, realizing aloud that Danhum found maturity sexually intimidating, and probably couldn't perform. Danhum hit him, in various ways. He'd beaten Loki's cock with a belt, and that had been very unpleasant. But apparently damaging Loki's fertility might lower his value to the potential buyers he'd lined up, who were interested in a shapeshifting monster creator, so he hadn't been able to continue for long. Most of what he did was degrading and disgusting, and Loki didn't want to dwell on it, but he was not very creative with physical pain.

"I'll have to pay attention to what your buyer does to you, then, and take notes." He gave the toy in Loki a vicious twist. "Your bidding war has been won, by the way. Beastmaster Vel will be taking you."

That was bad news. Thor had better hurry up. Vel had quite a reputation. He was a monstrous thing, eleven feet tall. He was known for cutting the legs off of his breeding stock, because they simply got in the way. Loki fought futilely against his bindings again.

"At least he won't be so boring." Loki sighed. "Really, Danny. Is this what I was so afraid of?"

The proximity alert went off.

"Mmm. Times up." Loki closed his eyes in relief. He wanted to go home, and take a long bath, and let Thor indulge in all his sweet, care-taking impulses, and get some sleep. Oh, ancestors, he hadn't slept in too long.... How had he let this pathetic little thing take so much sleep from him?

He felt the ship shudder as it was captured. Heard Danhum frantic at the controls, and the sound of airlocks engaging.

Then Danhum was standing unnervingly close. Loki's eyes snapped open. "You're right. Time is up."

He raised his arm, with a long knife.

Lightning consumed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos very much appreciated!
> 
> I'm on Tumblr: <https://www.tumblr.com/blog/runnerfivestillalive>


	6. Chapter 6

Thor would never disapprove of Loki taking up with the Grandmaster again.

There isn't really a good way to track a ship in space. You either know where they are going, or you lose them. Danhum had wrecked the port. It had taken them time to get a ship out. Too much time.

Then that Grandmaster madman had contacted Thor's ship. He had rambled and made bizarre references and spoken so oddly that Thor could barely make sense of him, but Thor had finally gotten that he knew where Loki was being taken. He explained that he had tried to simply buy Loki, and been refused, but he'd gotten the location anyway through some connection that Thor didn't care about.

Thor could breathe again. Could forget the moments between realizing they couldn't track Loki, and the Grandmaster's call.

Valkyrie was piloting the ship. Which left Thor suddenly at an end of steps. He could do no more than wait and worry.

He'd gotten a lot of practice at worrying, lately. Loki had stopped ignoring him, after Thor had found him so drunk, but he still drew away from him, and drank each night. His tricks had taken an older, crueler air, and his place among the warriors was all the more uneasy for it.

And Loki had started letting others fuck him.

Normally, Thor would have been happy about that. It had never felt right to him that Loki shared no bed but his. Well, and the Grandmaster's. He had always wanted Loki to have stronger ties to the warriors.

But he didn't think bonding was what was happening. Loki had been slowly breaking apart, and Thor didn't know what to do about it.

And now Loki was in the hands of someone who wanted to break him faster.

The Grandmaster had said he knew who was likely to get Loki, if the sale happened. A vicious creature, who would want to use him to breed monsters. He was famous for mutilating his breeding stock, the Grandmaster said.

Thor paced the ship. Valkyrie would only talk about their course. Fenrir looked out the window unhappily.

It was almost ten hours, before they caught Danhum's ship.

\-------------

Thor killed Danhum.

He'd decided on that before he'd even seen the situation. As soon as the airlock between their ships opened, his lightning had arched through the bastard. He didn't deserve an honorable battle, or last words.

That had been it. He only a moment later even realized that Danhum had been an instant from murdering Loki.

Valkyrie searched the ship for traps or surprises. Thor went straight to Loki, beaten there by Fenrir.

He was covered in bruises and blood. Thor tried not to see too much. He unchained and uncollared him, and removed something he refused to think of from his ass, and helped him sit up, and wrapped him in Thor's cape. Loki was shaking badly, and leaned against Thor. "Took your time. He's dead?"

"Yes." He brushed Loki's hair back, needing to see his face, needing to keep touching him, needing to take care of him. "Are you hurt?" He'd opened the door, and Loki was gone. He'd opened the door, and Loki was gone. He'd never be able to stop feeling that fear.

"Nothing serious." He quietly put a hand on Thor's hip, a signal that Thor was not to move away from him yet. As if he would. "Turns out he was much more frightening when I was young. Pathetic. Don't eat that, Fenrir!"

Thor craned his neck. Fenrir had gotten Danhum's head off, and was chewing on it. He dropped it, and came over to nuzzle against Loki.

Loki stroked Fenrir's fur, as the pup whined. "Shhh, everything's okay, all better now." he murmured to the wolf. "It's all better. Brave boy, clever boy." He sighed, and looked tiredly up at Thor. "Truly, Thor, I'm fine. Really, you're acting like I've never been in danger before.

Thor scowled. "Well, usually when you've gotten yourself into trouble, it's your own fault, and I entirely trust you to wriggle your way out of it, Trickster." He tightened his grip on Loki's hair, for just a moment, then kissed his forehead. "This time, it was my fault, and after the last couple weeks I wouldn't trust you to wriggle your way out of a blanket."

Loki huffed. "I wriggled my way out of this just fine. I've been carefully cultivating this over-powered, manipulable oaf to ensure he'll strike my enemies down without me having to lift a finger. Though clearly he has room for improvement."

Thor laughed weakly. "You bastard. After wallowing in alcohol for two weeks, and driving half the warriors mad, now he's not scary?"

Loki made a jabbing motion toward Thor's side, as if to stab him, and Thor jumped out of reflex. His tone was of irritated, exaggerated, patience. "Yes, brother, being actually tortured was a pleasant experience, compared to being constantly, every moment, reminded of.... Also, he did torture me! Just now! Quite a bit of torture! I've had a very bad day, and you should have let me kill him in the first place, and I think you should be being nicer to me!"

"You're right, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He crushed Loki close, fighting both tears and laughter, and kissed his hair. He'd been worried. Not just of how Loki might be hurt, but of what kind of destructive mess might be left in his brother's mind.

And Loki tended to spread destruction about.

But... he was safe! He was shaking, and bleeding, but he sounded okay. Sane. Snarky. Thor didn't know what to do with this terrified relief. He didn't know how he would ever allow Loki out of his arms. Loki was okay!

Loki fainted.

\---------------

Loki was in the healer's care, back on Asgard. She said he really would be fine. Internal damage, but it would heal.

Thor checked in a few hours later, and found Loki sitting up, staring absently out the window, Fenrir's head filling his lap.

"I need to speak to my brother alone." Thor said softly.

The healer nodded and left.

Loki was pale and bruised, and still looked exhausted. Thor wanted to hold him. He wasn't sure he'd ever not want to hold him again.

Thor sat in the small visitor's chair. "Loki... the prison guards have a theory of how Danhum escaped."

Loki was quiet a moment, then spoke as if he hadn't heard Thor, drawing in a steeling breath. "Brother, you cannot tame me."

Uhm.... "What?"

"You got close, I admit. I have been sliding into your trap. You are so willing to protect me, and it has been so tempting to let you. I stayed, after Ragnarok, and-"

Thor jerked forward in his chair, and grabbed Loki hand. "You won't go!" He couldn't!

"No." Loki laid his other hand over Thor's, comfortingly. "No, you won't be rid of me so easily." They shared a soft smile, before Loki turn back to the window. "But I am the god of tricks and mischief. I... try to obey sometimes, because I want to stay. But I can't be yours. I will always make trouble. I will never simply obey your rules, and trust you to protect me. It will not always be playful little tricks. I do what I want. I do whatever I want. Do you understand?"

Thor closed his eyes for a moment. Yes, he did. He remembered teasing Loki in the park, saying maternity had softened her.

"The guards say you visited Danhum's prison a few days ago. They say you spoke, and lost your temper at what he said, and blasted his prison. It was deflected by the shielding, but... that is the exact point he broke through. They think your strike weakened it, just enough." He took a slow breath.

"Loki...." He watched his brother's face, very carefully. "Did you arrange his escape?"

Loki met Thor's eye. "I told you I couldn't keep feeling him."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos very much appreciated!
> 
> I'm on Tumblr: <https://www.tumblr.com/blog/runnerfivestillalive>


End file.
